The Naturalest Naturalist

Sunday, 1 February 2015

It has been long enough that I figured I should at least put up a little something. I have been very frustrated by the weather as of late. We had absolutely immaculate weather for late January for pretty much five days straight: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. The forecast was looking good for Saturday until roughly Friday when the forecast shifted to pea soup fog in the morning and cloudy in the afternoon.

On Friday afternoon I started to feel a little under the weather and this feeling extended into Saturday morning. Despite that, I still wanted to get out for some fresh air. I had to drop my dad off at an appointment midday, so I decided that I would check out a park I had never been to after delivering my old man. Beckwith Park is an interesting spot that I had somehow never been to, so I figured it was high time that I paid it a visit.

The park holds a little forested pond that hosts Wood Ducks and Mallards that local residents come to feed. In a sense, it is like King's Pond and Bow Park. I was hoping this water might draw in something else interesting, but the best bird I came across was a Lincoln's Sparrow. Not exactly a big score, but always nice to see.

I had my camera handy and one bird really stole the show. We are in the midst of the Anna's Hummingbird breeding season, so they can be quite territorial. I found one male that was very cooperative as it worked its little Garry Oak rock outcrop territory. It was quite faithful to a few perches in particular and it allowed close approach. Despite the suboptimal light levels, I still got the shutter clicking away. I will sign off here and just leave you with a couple of Anna's shots that I hope you enjoy!

Thursday, 15 January 2015

First off, Happy New Year! I have been unmotivated by the prospect of doing blog posts without photos go along with them. I think the blog entry recession is over now that I've picked up a Canon 7D Mark II.

I've had the camera for nearly a week now and I've been able to take it out for a few sessions. My first trial run was on Saturday, but it was pretty unsatisfying. The weather was dull and moments of drizzle came and went. My favourite shots of the day were had on the rocks at Cattle Point.

Black Oystercatcher

Song Sparrow picking around the rocks

The first day I had it out was on Sunday when I joined Ian Cruickshank for a bit of alley exploring in the Uplands. The alley birding was pretty interesting, but we couldn't drum up anything unusual. In fact, despite toting the camera in my backpack for nearly three hours, I wasn't even tempted to take it out. I did finally pull out the new rig at the end of the day. We decided to stop in at Clover Point where we bumped into Geoffrey and David Newell. I asked if they'd seen anything of interest, but it was just the usual suspects. Still, I prodded them to know whether they happened to come across the Palm Warblers. They indicated they had not, so I asked if they had walked around the tip of the point along the beach. They had not. When I found the first Palm Warbler at Clover Point back in mid-November, I was standing right at the tip and it flew below me. With this thought, I stared down at the beach and caught the movement of a bird out near some logs. I raised my binoculars, soaked in some details, and was able to proclaim "There's a Palm Warbler down there!" Ian and the Newells were equally elated. After watching them for a minute, I decided I would put my 7D Mark II to its first test. How would it perform in the dull, late day light? It was already around 4 p.m. and I knew any photos would come out noisy. Still, I had heard this camera has great high ISO capabilities. I don't like to drop my ISO below 800, so I decided to see what I could at that setting. My photos came out really cold and drab, but a little editing made the results look not too bad. It was a nice first test, but it left me realizing there is a lot to learn on the camera.

This shot of a Palm Warbler was one of my first low light attempts with the Canon 7D Mark II

I was able to head out again the next afternoon because I was itching to try some different settings in better light. There was a report of a Common Redpoll on January 5th from some feeders near the intersection of Southgate and Quadra Sts., but all subsequent efforts to relocate it came up empty. I arrived at the feeders just before 2:30 p.m. and amazingly enough found the Common Redpoll in a few minutes. It was a distant and somewhat brief look, but I knew it was the redpoll. I posted a message on BCVIBIRDS and continued to watch the feeders. Mary Robichaud arrived in good time and I left her to watch the feeders while I patrolled the road to the north. From Southgate St. I could see a few Cedar Waxwings, so I wanted to get a closer look to ensure my much sought after Bohemian Waxwing wasn't in the mix. I spent ten minutes or so dividing my attention between a berry-rich holly shrub on the St. Ann's Academy property and a birch on Academy Close. After feeling I had given that a fair scouring, I rejoined Mary back at the feeders. A good five minutes later, the Common Redpoll mysteriously materialized at one of the feeders. I made sure Mary had seen all the features before making an approach with my camera. Getting a decent photo was tricky because the feeder wasn't stationary. It was rotating as new birds landed on the feeder, causing the redpoll to vanish in and out of view.

Side profile view of the Common Redpoll just showing a hint of its red poll

Closer view of the Common Redpoll with an American Goldfinch at the back of the feeder

Common Redpoll sitting on an oak branch near the feeder

When the redpoll decided to fly up to the top of the oak, both Mary and I had seen enough to be content with the sighting. We head back to our vehicles and I noticed a gull across the road. It actually appeared to be somewhat pale compared to the handful of Glaucous-winged and "Olympic" Gulls nearby, so I actually thought it might be Ring-billed. The size wasn't right for Ring-billed, so I headed over to get some photos and Mary departed. The gull allowed close approach and I managed to get some decent photos. The pigeon-headed look, small bill, and pink legs pegged it as a Thayer's Gull. The age on this bird is the tricky part. I thought it might be a fourth-winter bird, but when I put it up on the North American Gulls page most suggested third-cycle. Note the switch in terminology - many subscribe to the use of cycles for aging, but I am more used to referencing the season. From my understanding, a third-cycle bird would be in its third winter so I might be a year off. Apparently it is very hard to determine the age between third- and fourth-cycle birds. It has a pretty strong residual tail band, so maybe third-cycle is right. Now that I've bored you with gull musing, the bird itself will be a little anticlimactic. I think it's a nice bird, though.

Thayer's Gull, possibly third-cycle

I finished off my afternoon's birding back at Clover Point watching the Palm Warblers. They were quite confiding, but it still required a good deal of patience to get good photo opportunities. I eventually ended up with a handful of respectable shots. I will include a few different angles, including one shot that shows that one of the birds has rufous feathers on the cap indicating it's an adult. What a treat to have them around for over a month!

Here's my favourite Palm Warbler shot of the lot

A nice side profile on a piece of driftwood

The angled piece of driftwood made for an interesting shot here, I reckon.

As you can see, this bird has rufous in the crown, which should indicate an adult Palm Warbler

That's all the material I have for now. I hope to get out again this weekend and will write up another entry if the birds cooperate.

Wednesday, 12 November 2014

You know the saying "Go big or go home"? Well, I defied that by going big, then going home. I was in Hawaii visiting friends and enjoying its amazing natural and not-so-natural history from October 24th to November 8th, and boy did I ever make it memorable!

On November 2nd, I was hiking the incredible Pu'u O'o Trail off the Saddle Rd. that traverses the Big Island between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. I had the good fortune of bumping into Jack Jeffrey - a well-respected ornithologist and photographer in Hawaii - and he mentioned the Kona Wastewater Treatment Plant is a great place to search for migrant waterfowl and shorebirds. There is almost an irony in this recommendation, as Jack's central focus is native forest birds. Regardless, I immediately decided it was a place I wanted to visit.

Despite seeing some of the incredible native forest birds that are too gawdy for words, I found there was also something equally incredible about seeing migrant waterfowl and shorebirds, ones I see here on southern Vancouver Island, way out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. How they manage to find terra firma when the nearest major land masses are thousands of kilometres away is beyond me. That was the major stimulus for following Jack's advice to hit up the Kona Wastewater Treatment Plant on November 3rd.

The treatment plant is not open to the public, but birders have graciously been allowed to venture around the facility, staying outside the chainlink fence. Janean and I ventured in and followed a dirt road onto a dyke that offered a good vantage of the wastewater treatment ponds. Scanning the edges of the ponds, I found many of the expected Hawaiian marsh birds: Hawaiian Stilts, Hawaiian Coots, Pacific Golden-Plovers, Ruddy Turnstones, Sanderlings, and a few Wandering Tattlers. Additionally, I spotted a lone Cackling Goose that has apparently been a long-staying uncommon bird, plus a single Lesser Scaup. I also spotted a large wader in the corner of the furthest back pond on the left (i.e., southwesternmost). The heat haze was horrid and I figured it must be a Greater Yellowlegs, which would be a pretty good bird. I tried my best to get good looks from the dyke, but the heat haze was too strong. I got distracted by a small tern flying over the ponds and my attention was focused on it for a while. Even my views of the tern were unsatisfying, but I managed to ascertain that it was a Least Tern. A look on eBird confirmed that a juvenile had been reported there within the past month and since then I have learned that Least Terns actually bred in the area.

Coming from the wet Hilo side, the dry Kona heat not only made the viewing conditions difficult, but it spurred me to move on because Janean is quite fair-skinned. Oh... and we were at a wastewater treatment plant in Hawaii. How fair is that?!? I gave one last look at that large wader and just had to shrug. "Probably just a Greater Yellowlegs" I thought, but there was something that didn't sit right with me about it. The legs seemed quite bright even through the haze. I knew I would be coming back to Kona on the last day and I would have the whole afternoon to explore the area. Janean is very accommodating and said I could go back on our last day.

November 7th was our last full day and we weren't scheduled to fly until 12:50 a.m. on the 8th. We worked our way towards Kona in the morning, heading north from Ka'u. We had a fairly leisurely morning, including stopping in for a nice coffee and using some WiFi, so we didn't get to the treatment plant until noon. Janean said she would rather just relax in the car so she didn't feel like she was rushing me - what a lucky guy! I marched out to the dyke and set up the scope, hoping the "vog" (volcanic fog) would cut the haze. The large wader was in the exact same spot, but the heat haze still hampered views. I scoped around quickly for anything else unusual and then focused back on the wader. It moved up out of the water and onto the black plastic lining, which provided a much better contrast to evaluate the legs. I thought "Man... those legs are glowing!" I packed up the scope and decided that I had to get closer to see if there was any chance it was the outrageous thing I thought it might be.

I skirted the facility to the left of the entrance and got to a place that was much closer and hopefully still offered a view of the bird. I set the scope up and started scanning... no dice. I figured it was just out of view, so I waited a minute and checked again. There it was... creamsicle orange legs just screaming "Hey dummy... my shanks are red!" I started to piece together the other features I knew off the top of my head: the basal half of the bill's lower mandible was reddy-orange, the overall colour was tan-brown with the speckled pattern reminiscent of a yellowlegs, it had white supercilia and dark lores, and the neck down to the belly had a tan wash, including blurry streaking on the upper chest. There was something else I was supposed to look for... right, redshanks are supposed to have a white wedge running up the back, in the same vein as dowitchers, I watched the redshank as it bobbed its way along the edge of pond. I was hoping the Hawaiian Coot would be curious enough about the foreign visitor to peck at its legs. Instead, the noisy activity of a nearby Hawaiian Stilt caused the redshank to make a short flight. As its wings opened, the white patch was revealed up the back and, to separate it from Common Redshank, it lacked broad white trailing edges on the wings. I was looking at a juvenile SPOTTED REDSHANK!!! I guarantee I was muttering expletives to myself and I was certain this was a mega rarity for Hawaii. I wasn't sure exactly how good it was, but I knew it was going to cause a stir.

When you're close, there's no doubt about its identity! (Photo: Eric VanderWerf)

So, I had just seen a Spotted Redshank in Hawaii and I had no idea what magnitude the rarity was and I wasn't sure who to contact. My only attempts to contact locals failed, so I did the next best thing: social media. I contacted Jeremy Kimm and asked him to put the word out on the ABA Rare Bird Alert page on Facebook and anywhere else relevant. He did just that and the more relevant page he got it on was the Hawaii Birdwatching group on Facebook. From there, enthusiastic local birder Lance Tanino grilled Jeremy K. for more details. It was, after all, a Hawaiian first - that's when I truly grasped the weight of the sighting. I called Jeremy to get all the information out in a prompt manner and this convinced Lance and also Jean Campbell that they should be there first thing in the morning the next day.

I was grateful to Lance and Jean because they got down there and photo-documented the bird. My camera was out of commission, so I wasn't able to document the bird. They both managed to obtain tangible evidence that it existed and soon more Hawaiian birders were making the trip to see this far-flung Asian shorebird. Similarly, I must thank Eric VanderWerf for supplying the photos he managed to obtain, as they make this entry less bland! This is conceivably the rarest bird I have ever found: a state first! I have had two provincial second records (Ross' Gull and Painted Bunting) and one third record (Lesser Nighthawk) for BC, but never a first. What a thrilling event and one hell of a way to end my first trip to the Hawaiian Islands!

Saturday, 18 October 2014

Well... this is hardly the resounding post I should be putting together to break the silence. I was away working for six weeks without internet and then I was back in Victoria for a whopping four days before heading up to Fort McMurray for a few weeks. I have been back in Victoria for just over a week now and I'm finally starting to feel like I'm settled back in.

I have been sneaking in little birding excursions when I can and this morning was rather productive. With a Red-throated Pipit reported along Puckle Rd. near Martindale Flats last weekend, I thought I would see if I could sift through some pipits. I arrived at the fields at around 8 a.m. and there was a light veil of fog hanging over the fields. This was a little discouraging as it reduced the visibility, but I could hear pipits out there. I pulled to the side of the road, grabbed my scope, and did my best to find tail-bobbing birds popping up from furrows in the soil. While doing this, I noticed blackbirds and European Starlings flying in from the northwest and landing on the wires. I gave them a quick scan because a Rusty Blackbird was reported in local flock a few days earlier. My mind was set on pipits at this time, though, so I quickly went back to trying to pick out a Red-throated and among the Americans. After half an hour or so of looking and listening to the same group of American Pipits, I decided it was a bust.

As I headed back to the car, I noticed Eurasian Collared-Doves were at the edge of one of the fields with the starlings and blackbirds. I moved the car closer to the action and shortly after parking a truck pulled up. Jody Wells, a birder I had bumped in to once before at Tod Creek Flats, provided good company as we scanned through the blackbird flock and small groups of sparrows dropping down to the ground along a fence line. While chatting with Jody, I said he should let me know if he ever finds any interesting birds during his walks. He said he wasn't as intense with the birding as others, but he has come across some interesting birds. One sighting he recalled in particular was three Yellow-headed Blackbirds on Saanichton Spit. I was impressed - that's my spot and I certainly haven't found one there! At that point, I mentioned there was supposed to be a Rusty Blackbird around and it could well be in the flock we had in front of us. Well, wouldn't you know it... I couldn't dig out the Rusty Blackbird, but I did find a first-year male Yellow-headed Blackbird! I got Jody on the bird and we both marveled at the brilliant yellow patch on its chest when it turned the right way.

The flock was rather restless and Jody noticed that they all put up after a Mourning Dove darted in towards them. They must have mistaken the swept back wings for a Merlin that we'd seen zip by earlier. Eventually the Yellow-headed Blackbird ended up on the road near the very end of Puckle Rd., surrounded by Red-winged Blackbirds, European Starlings, a few Brown-headed Cowbirds, and a smattering of Brewer's Blackbirds. I crept my way up to the flock and maintained a healthy distance to take some record shots.

Easily the best look I've had of a Yellow-headed Blackbird in Victoria!

Another familiar face, Barry McKee, rolled up as Jody was heading off. I managed to get Barry on the Yellow-headed Blackbird and he snapped one shot with his camera before it flew, likely rejoining the flock on the fields. This was only my second self-found Yellow-headed Blackbird for the Victoria checklist area and I would gladly take that over a Rusty! This sighting paired with seeing a couple of familiar faces made for a great morning.

I just looked back through the BCVIBIRDS archive and learned that my first self-found Yellow-headed Blackbird was almost two years ago to the day. I went to the Vantreight bulb fields on October 19, 2012, the day after returning from a work trip, and found a female Yellow-headed Blackbird in a large blackbird flock off Wallace Dr. I guess mid-October is a great window for uncommon icterids! Is it too much to hope for a grackle?

Tuesday, 8 July 2014

A few weeks ago, if you'll recall, I managed to see my first Clay-coloured Sparrow in the Victoria checklist area. I even made brief mention of the next five species I anticipated to add as I work towards 300. Well, you can pretty much guarantee it won't work out the way you anticipate and I pretty instantly derailed my list.

On June 24, Ann Nightingale headed over to Livesay Rd. where Bullock's Orioles were first noted four days earlier. Not only were the orioles still around, but a song rarely heard in Victoria was being repeated in the backdrop. Luckily Ann recognized the repeated "che-bek" phrase as a singing Least Flycatcher. Unfortunately for me, I was working in the interior and heading to Valemount for four more days of work. Even worse, the trail went cold the next morning after it put in a brief appearance. It wasn't reported over the next two days and I figured it was yet another Least Flycatcher that had slipped through my grasp due to my absence from the Victoria area.

The Newells are a persistent bunch and they not only checked in on the orioles on June 28, but they also decided to check around the kiwi farms near the intersection of Martindale and Welch. Surprisingly enough, they relocated the Least Flycatcher singing around the kiwi farm - awesome! I was finishing up my work that day and had a day of natural history mayhem planned for the next day down in the Okanagan. I wasn't about to rush back to Victoria for the Least Flycatcher, but I made sure to stay updated on its status. After a morning in Princeton and Manning Park on the 30th, I was bound for Swartz Bay on the 6 p.m. ferry. While on the ferry, I read an update from Mike McGrenere saying that he had the Least in the morning. I wanted to pop in to drop off some Okanagan cherries to my dad, but I planned to make it quick so I could put in a bit of time before dark trying to hear or see the flycatcher. I mentioned it to my dad and he wanted to join me, so we hopped in my work truck and we headed on over to the kiwi farms. I am fortunately very familiar with Least Flycatcher due to the areas I work, so I stood still and just listened. It took a minute, but I heard a distant "che-bek" at the far end of the kiwi farm on the south side of Martindale Rd. We tracked the bird down to the row of poplars at the south side of the farm. I popped just inside the row of poplars along the road and managed to see a little empid with obvious white wingbars high up in one of the poplars. It wasn't the best view, but it was most definitely my first Least Flycatcher in the Victoria checklist area!

My dad didn't really get a great view of the bird before it flew to the north end of the farm. I listened for it to sing again and determined it was half way down the north line of poplars. Then it stopped singing for a bit and when it restarted, it was over in the kiwi farm kitty corner to us. We crossed over to it and there my dad was able to briefly observe the Least as it sat on a drooping kiwi vine about 10 metres away at eye level. What a great bird to add and it didn't quite make my cut for the top five next expected species. It was pretty close and I debated putting it on over Pink-footed Shearwater and Long-tailed Jaeger because I don't do much in the way of "pelagic" birding here.

I don't have any audio files or photos to support this blog entry, so I will have to make up for it with a photo extravaganza soon. Photos would have been miserable anyways due to the low light conditions. Knowing this is a new Victoria bird for me, I will do the standard update on my progress towards 300 species in the checklist area. The Least Flycatcher is my 294th species and it was actually a tiebreaker for me to jump back ahead of Jeremy Kimm. I probably fretted at his progress over the past few years as he quickly closed the gap and then momentarily passed me. At the same time, I knew he was adding species I hadn't seen and it was only a matter of time before I recouped those losses. Mission accomplished! If that sounds extremely competitive, it's actually all in good fun. We congratulate each other genuinely when we add new birds to our Victoria checklist and JK even prods me to hurry up and get my Grey Jay already. I think we both enjoy the friendly competitive edge and schoolyard maturity taunting. So... bring on the next one!

Monday, 7 July 2014

Just over a week ago, I finished up work in Valemount and had to drop a coworker off in the Vernon area. With Janean off camping, I figured it would be nice to take advantage of the fact I was already in the Okanagan area and spend the next day and a half enjoying the natural history of the southern interior.

After dropping off my coworker, I made a quick dash south and completely forgot how busy it would be during the Canada Day weekend. I had trouble finding accommodations in Oliver, so I kept going to Osoyoos and eventually managed to find somewhere that was not excessively expensive. My plan for the next morning was to get up and head to Road 22 to see if dragonflies were cruising the irrigation channel.

When I got there it was still a little early, so I continued on to Black Sage Rd. and realized the area sported an abundance of antelope-brush. I had a feeling the area was Haines Lease Ecological Reserve due to provincial government signs indicating it was a management area. If I have an area I can just wander without worrying about trespassing, I am happy. Off I went in sandals... into the sage, antelope-brush, cheatgrass, and cactus. After a couple minutes, I marched back to the truck and replaced my sandals with hiking shoes. I always underestimate how effective cacti and cheatgrass are at transporting themselves from just the slightest brush of a foot. The shoes made it a bit more comfortable, but I still had hundreds of cheatgrass seeds embedded in my shoelaces and socks and cacti were embedded in my soles and adhering to my pants. So why was I putting myself through this treacherous foot gauntlet? The relatively intact antelope-brush community hosts a butterfly that has a very limited range in British Columbia: Behr's Hairstreak.

I spent hours roaming around a slope covered in antelope-brush and, despite finding dozens of Grey Hairstreaks, a few California Hairstreaks, a couple Common Sootywings, and several amazing robberflies, I just couldn't connect with Behr's Hairstreak. I have seen one before, but it a very brief sighting at the Osoyoos Desert Centre a few years ago. I have been told the desert centre's parking lot is one of the best places to see them due to the abundance of yarrow in the garden. I am stubborn and wanted to get it in a more natural setting. Haines Lease has a good supply of its host plant (antelope-brush), but I feel it was lacking nectar plants. Pretty much all of the yarrow I encountered was already dried out. I was happy I explored this location despite missing my target. I even scrambled up onto the rocky slope above the antelope-brush community and got one heck of a surprise from a Western Rattlesnake! This encounter happened so quickly that I didn't manage any photos, unfortunately. Instead, I can offer shots of a Grey Hairstreak, Common Sootywing, and a Brown-spotted Range Grasshopper.

This dark little skipper patterned with white spots on the forewing is a Common Sootywing

Several of the Grey Hairstreaks were in pristine condition and this is one such individual

Thanks to James Miskelly, I have this identified as a Brown-spotted Range Grasshopper (Psoloessa delicatula)

I decided that I had to abandon my search for Behr's Hairstreak. Between my time at Haines Lease Ecological Reserve and another little patch of antelope-brush further northwest on Black Sage Rd., I had dedicated enough time to one species. I cut decided to shift my focus to Dark Saltflat Tiger Beetle (Cicindela parowana), which is currently only known from one location in Canada. For this species, I headed out east of Oliver. I didn't have the exact location for it, but a description of the area that I did my best to figure out. I later found out I wasn't quite in the right spot. I was having a hard time finding good tiger beetle habitat, so I was sticking to a dirt track that occasionally had some looser, sandier soil. Based on a report chronicling the search effort for Dark Saltflat Tiger Beetle in recent years, I thought I should be looking around alkali flats. I got on my phone and used Google Maps to look for any water features that might have an alkali edge. From my little iPhone screen, I found one spot that looked like a decent candidate. I drove a few kilometres on the dirt track and ended up at a little watering hole that seemingly gets used by horses. This wasn't looking too promising.

I hopped out and started searching the dried edge for tiger beetles and the wetter areas for interesting plants or puddling butterflies. Nothing. I then continued to walk down the dirt track. As I walked along, my eyes were drawn to a dark spot on the flat-topped flower cluster of a yarrow plant. It was a butterfly and the combination of its size and brown tone stopped me dead in my tracks. Behr's Hairstreak! I had given up on finding one, but that's often how it goes. This stunning hairstreak cooperatively nectared from flower to flower on the yarrow.

Behr's Hairstreak is easily one of my favourite butterflies in British Columbia - what a beauty!

I should really end with the Behr's Hairstreak as it was really the high point of the day. Unfortunately, I am a sucker for chronology and, after enjoying the above Behr's plus another individual that was a little more worn, I had a cooperative California Hairstreak. Yarrow is such a great nectar plant even if it is rather weedy, and it's also what the California Hairstreak was using for a nectar source. I may have spent my entire day searching for two main targets, but it was a very rewarding day and I hope you enjoyed ride-along narrative.

This California Hairstreak had the most vibrant markings of the four that I saw over the course of the day

Wednesday, 11 June 2014

The inevitable happened again while I was away working. I am a sucker for punishment, so I still follow what's going on in Victoria while I'm away and let's just say the last two weeks were hot. First, during the Metchosin Bioblitz a homeowner photographed a male Hooded Oriole at their feeder. I probably would have moped a little more if this bird put on a good show, but no birders were able to enjoy this bird. The next week, both Eastern and Western Kingbirds were all over the place and then Jeff Gaskin had a Black Phoebe in the midst of all the kingbird mayhem near Blenkinsop Lake. Finally, an inconspicuous report was mentioned in the transcript for the Victoria Rare Bird Alert: a possible Clay-coloured Sparrow singing near the Vancouver Island Technology Park. If the latter was identified correctly, that would be three birds I have never seen in Victoria. Painful!'

I got home on the evening of June 7 and planned to get out the next morning to try to connect with a good bird or two of my own. First, however, I thought I would follow up on the possible Clay-coloured Sparrow that received no further mention on BCVIBIRDS or the rare bird alert. I drove past Quick's Bottom and towards the Vancouver Island Technology Park at around 8:30 a.m. Having just worked for nearly three weeks up in Fort McMurray where Clay-coloured Sparrows are a dime dozen, I was confident I would easily pick out a Clay-coloured Sparrow if it was still around singing. I rolled the window down in the car and cruised along slowly. Within seconds of putting the window down, I heard the distinct "bzzzzz bzzzzz bzzzzz" of a Clay-coloured! The idea of that species being exciting after coming back from a play where they're abundant is somewhat absurd, but this species was long overdue for me in Victoria. Maybe relieved is a better description of how I felt.

To put this bogey bird in perspective, let me relate it to Brewer's Sparrow - the other rare Spizella that occasionally turns up in Victoria. Brewer's Sparrow has fewer than 10 records on Vancouver Island, while Clay-coloured Sparrow has been recorded likely more than 20 times. I have been fortunate enough to see two Brewer's Sparrows in Victoria, thanks to the sharp ears of Ian Cruickshank both times. This unlikely discrepancy is due largely to typical windows these two species show up in the region. Brewer's Sparrow is often found in the spring, and that is certainly the case for the two birds that Ian found that I was able to capitalize on. Clay-coloured Sparrows, on the other hand, typically show up in the late summer or early fall in the Pacific Northwest. I just seem to get unlucky with absences in the fall when Clay-coloured Sparrows show up. Lucky for me, this Clay-coloured Sparrow decided to break the mould and set up a territory on a tiny shrub-dotted knoll in Layritz Park!

Male Clay-coloured Sparrow singing from the top of a Scotch Broom shrub at Layritz Park on June 8, 2014

As you can see, this bird was cooperatively content singing his heart out from the tops of shrubs within its territory. Not only did I snap off a few photos, I have been exploring the use of my camera as a means of recording songs and calls of birds. It works surprisingly well! If you have a digital camera that allows you to take videos, you can record the bird singing or calling and then extract the audio file using software. For this I use the free VLC Media Player and it works perfectly for my purpose. Once you extract the audio recording, you can upload it to a site like xeno-canto and it provides you with a nice little sonogram that can be embedded into something like a blog. How convenient is that? Here is the recording of the Clay-coloured Sparrow from Sunday morning:

I am not sure how much content I actually post on my blog about the actual "art" of birding, but I think the above qualifies as a little tip for modern birding. Do whatever you can to document a bird. There will always be cases where a bird legitimately can't be well-documented, but I think we're getting to a point where the majority of the rarities should have some form of presentable evidence. If you hadn't thought of the above, give it a try with even some regular species. If you need assistance with the conversion of your movie file to audio, drop me a line and I'll see if I can walk you through it. I am new to this, too, but it is a rather effective way to document a bird that is very skulky, but regularly vocalizes. For example, what if by some outlandishly glorious twist of fate you found a Yellow Rail giving its "tick-tick... tick-tick-tick" calls from a wet meadow on southern Vancouver Island? Do you think you're going to see it and get photos of it? Maybe you can lure it out with playback and get lucky, but probably not. I would now be inclined to switch my digital camera to video mode and start recording in hopes that it picks up the calls.

If you don't think documenting rare birds is important, you should have a read through a very recent piece on the ABA blog by George Armistead by clicking "here".... here. That was a weird way to do that. Anyways, don't take that article personally. There will always be birders that don't understand that we all get something different out of this hobby. I find it very helpful when rare birds are documented and I am grateful when I receive an e-mail about a rarity that is accompanied with some sort of tangible evidence. Do I really care if someone hasn't photographed a vagrant? In the end, no... not really. Depending on whether it's the first documented record of that species in the province or even in the local checklist area, it may or may not get accepted due to a lack of proof. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, but rather it greatly diminishes the critical evaluation of the identification by a records committee. Okay, that's all I plan to say about that because I have now strayed off topic farther than the Clay-coloured strayed to end up in Victoria.

Let me just wrap this up with a little update. First, the bird is still, as of June 11, singing up a storm by the small rocky knoll at Layritz Park near the Vancouver Island Technology Park. And finally, the Clay-coloured Sparrow was the 293rd species for me in the Victoria checklist area. I am still clawing my way up towards 300 and hopefully I'll be able to inch my way up a little more this year. This and Say's Phoebe were two species that continually sat in my top 5 next expected birds to be added, so I'll have to revisit that list and adjust it now that they're knocked down. Feel free to help me out by timing your rarity discoveries with my arrivals back in the Victoria area! Lark Sparrow, Dusky Flycatcher, and Grey Jay are my top three, so I just need to think about what's next after that. Maybe Pink-footed Shearwater and Long-tailed Jaeger? Yes... consider that a wish list.

About Me

I live on the Saanich Peninsula on southern Vancouver Island in British Columbia. When I was young, my dad got me hooked on birdwatching and the hobby has yet to lose its lustre. In fact, my passion for birds gradually evolved into an appreciation for all things natural. Through fellow naturalists, work, and my own inquisitive, restless mind, I started to learn about plants, mammals, dragonflies, butterflies, reptiles, amphibians, terrestrial molluscs, tiger beetles, moths, fungi, and anything else that catches my eye.